The state of Delaware fell from the top-ranked position to number 11 in the most recent survey on the business-friendly environment for lawsuits in state courts, ceding ground to the state of South Dakota.  Delaware had been in the highest perch for the last ten surveys, going back to 2002 (the surveys were not conducted every year).

The 2017 Lawsuit Climate Survey:  Ranking the States, was conducted for the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform to explore how U.S. businesses perceive the fairness and reasonableness of the states’ liability systems.  More than 1,300 in-house general counsel, senior litigators or attorneys and other senior executives at companies with at least $100 million in annual revenues who indicated they had firsthand, recent litigation experience in the states they evaluated and were knowledgeable about litigation matters participated in the survey.
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